


The Kiss of Death

by Zodiac



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Blood and Injury, Character Death, I started writing this like halfway through Than's route, It's okay though it's just Zagreus, M/M, Serious Injuries, That ended up not happening but I wanted to write that dynamic anyway so shrug, when I was thinking of him and Zag maybe being a thing before the escape attempts started
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-15
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:26:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27027289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zodiac/pseuds/Zodiac
Summary: There is no escape.Not from the Underworld.And not from Death....Not that Zagreus wanted to escape from the latter.
Relationships: Thanatos & Zagreus (Hades Video Game), Thanatos/Zagreus (Hades Video Game)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 160





	The Kiss of Death

"...When I told you "goodbye", I was not expecting to have to see you again so soon."

To anyone else, Thanatos sounded as he always did. Cold as the frigid snowfall around him and dry enough to dissuade idle conversation. Ever serious and devoted to his morbid craft, he truly put the "grim" in "grim reaper".

But Zagreus knew him too well.

After all the years they had been around one another, he was able to pick out the hidden inflections, the slightest change in his tone, with ease. Where others only heard the disaffected neutrality of someone carrying out their morbid craft, he heard what Thanatos unwittingly let slip. The uncertain haltingness in his voice of concern. The slight dip of sorrow.

The choking bitterness of knowing this would come to pass—no one escapes Death, after all.

He was a _mess_ . Through Tartarus and Asphodel, Elysium and the Temple of Styx he had clambered and scrabbled, beating back the hoards of lackeys and damned prisoners his father had sent to halt his advance… only to be stopped by the man himself moments after taking in the first breath of fresh air he had in his life. Sure, it made his nose and lungs sting with how _frigid_ it was, but it was still leagues better than the air that hung stagnant in the Underworld, shifting only when sulphurous thermal currents forced it into motion. He couldn't help but pause to appreciate it alongside this new powdery snow that sizzled beneath his footsteps, the sheer novelty of it all making a sort of childlike giddiness blossom in his chest.

His father's appearance put an abrupt stop to that.

Hades ranted and raved on as usual, claiming Zagreus had no idea what he was doing, how his petulant stubbornness would only end up making things worse without elaborating further, how he had arrived to put an end to this farce he had foolishly allowed to go on throughout his realm.

And then… there was a bloodbath.

Despite everything and everyone Zagreus had conquered up till this point, he truly was no match for his own father. Properly armed with Gigaros, it only took him a few well-placed blows to wrest the advantage from Zagreus, beating him back until he slumped, panting to the ground.

From there, it was a simple matter for him to raise his spear and deliver a fatal blow.

But a quick kill would be too _merciful_ for him, of course, wouldn't serve to drill his twisted lesson into his obstinate son's head. So, instead, he took aim before the prongs of his spear lanced down into Zagreus' body, missing any vital organs, but rupturing enough veins and arteries that ensured he would bleed out before he could get any further. He left the weapon in his now screaming, thrashing body for only a moment before yanking it back out, sparing only a cursory glance of disgust at Zagreus and the crimson splattered against his weapon before leaving him like that. Leaving him for Death to take him back to the Underworld.

It wasn't long until he showed up.

Zagreus had managed to drag himself over to one of the pillars in the area, propping himself up against it as his lifeblood seeped through his fingers and into the surrounding snow, tinting it pink. From there, he had a perfect view of the reaper when he materialized, able to see the rare show of surprise flickering across his face when he saw just who it was he had come to collect before it smoothed back to his usual expression and he offered that comment.

"Guess you really must have missed me then, huh?" Zagreus retorted with a weak grin, knowing damn-well what his true purpose here was. Still, he didn't have it in himself to fear death, not after being so familiar with the physical embodiment of it.

" _Tch._ I am not here simply to see you, Zagreus." Still, he was able to make out just the tiniest tug at the corners of his lips, Thanatos still susceptible to his brand of humor despite the somber situation and how he was still clearly upset at him leaving without saying a word. He knew he shouldn’t be joking to begin with, given everything that had happened, but humor always was his method of coping, of attempting to lighten the mood of a situation… and the massive blood loss likely wasn’t helping his mental state any.

"Yes, yes, I know. Clearly, you must have come aaall this way to give me a kiss in addition to looking at me." His desired effect was immediate, that serious expression faltering at last as Thanatos sputtered. Zagreus couldn't help the hearty chuckle it coaxed from him despite his wounded muscles spasming in protest from the action.

"What in blood and darkness are you talking about?!"

"The kiss of Death." He elaborated, curling his arm more fully around his midsection as though it might stem the pain in his sides. "I think that's what some mortals call it when you show up to take them, anyway. Tell me, do you _really_ give each of them a kiss or is it just reserved for the special ones?”

A heavy, 'so done with you right now' sigh as Thanatos crouched down before this dying, delirious man. "Simply an attempt to romanticize my job on their part. It helps some of them cope with their loss, I think, to imagine Death as some kind being who bestows kisses upon the dying. A relatively peaceful way to go when compared to the ugly truth."

“Relatively peaceful… Rather unlike this, wouldn’t you say?” Another chuckle, humorless this time, though it was followed by a harsh cough, a balled fist raising up to cover it. When he pulled it away, he grimaced at the slick splatter of fresh blood covering it. Ah… he wasn’t going to last much longer at this rate. “Father got me good. But…” Slowly, his eyelids fluttered shut, head tipping back against the stone pillar. “at least I was able to see the surface. Feel the wind blowing through my hair…”

He drifted off then, out of words and unsure what to say to the reaper next given their currently rocky relationship. Of course, Thanatos himself didn’t offer any suggestions, always seeming to prefer silence over speech. For how long they remained like that, he was uncertain, all sense of time distorted by blood loss. Between them, there was only the sound of bitter wind whistling past, his own labored breaths that steadily became harsher and more desperate.

And then, there was warmth on his face.

It was nowhere near the searing heat of Asphodel, nor the comfortable ambient warmth of the House. No, this was weak, but just strong enough to be noticeable. Slowly opening his eyes, he found he had to blink them rapidly as there was now some sort of light filtering through a small patch of brilliant blue in the middle of the snow-laden clouds. Though it hurt to look directly at, it was a soft, pleasant yellow as it illuminated the area, bouncing off whatever snow it touched to give it a vivid, almost painfully white hue.

Between his unfamiliarity with the surface and his fizzling brain, it took him a moment to put words to what he was seeing, but he eventually managed. “...Is that… the sun…?”

Still wordless, Thanatos raised his head to follow his gaze for only a moment before quickly ducking his head down again in a nod.

Zagreus smiled then, weakly lifting a hand up as if to touch it even though it was so very, very far away. Despite his body shutting down, he was still able to feel that gentle warmth against his palm, against his outstretched fingers, as though the heavens themselves were reaching down to greet him after his long journey through Hell. “You always talked about how much you hated it… How it was always too bright whenever you had to come up here… It’s not _that_ bad, I don’t think…”

Thanatos simply made a noncommittal noise at that, the hand not holding his scythe tugging his hood a little further over his face. “Given my mother, I think I can be forgiven when it comes to disliking the sun. It never did suit me.”

“Yeah… Suppose you’re right…” As his hand fell, his eyelids did so too, cutting off his view of that wondrous light, but still allowing that feeble warmth to seep into him. A pause as he drew in a rattling breath, practically forcing his lungs to obey him at this point. “...I would say this _is_ a peaceful way to go now… Other than all the blood, I mean, but it can’t be perfect, I guess. But… you’re probably going to fix that, huh? Can’t let the mortals start thinking that you deal peaceful deaths and all…” No answer, of course.

But then, there was a touch against his cheek. Surprisingly soft and so, so frigid. Cold as the snow around him. Corpsecold.

Zagreus only just managed to pry his eyelids open, squinting through his eyelashes to see a rare smile on the reaper’s face, loving and bittersweet and just a touch vexed all at once, as though he wanted so very, very badly to tamp down on that affection but was no longer able to. Thanatos leaned in closer, his hand now fully cupping the prince’s cheek, guiding his head to face him.

“Perhaps… the truth of dying is not always as ugly as I make it out to be.”

And then, he kissed him.

Zagreus gasped, not expecting him to do such a thing, and his breath was swallowed up by those lips, now parted to match his own. Ravenous, they drew out that gasp, drew out his last few breaths that his lungs stubbornly clung to even in the face of Death itself, forcing them to give up those precious gulps of air. He found that he couldn’t even bring himself to panic as the very life was sucked out of him, focusing only on the sensation of those lips pressed against his own. Just like his skin, they were cold and so wonderfully soft, like slipping between silken sheets that had lain bereft of warmth for hours on end. He _adored_ them and, with a muffled groan, he leaned in to deepen the kiss against his very instincts, wanting the contact between them to last forever.

But his breath couldn’t hold out forever and the last of it was sucked out of him with a rattling gurgle. As his body finally succumbed to its many, many wounds and the lack of air, Zagreus was able to have one final, coherent thought.

Thanatos never outright denied the existence of the kiss of Death.

**Author's Note:**

> If you enjoyed this and wanted to screech at me in a manner similar to socializing, then you can find my Twitter right [here](https://twitter.com/HippestGlitch).


End file.
